Ford marks 100 years of the moving assembly line

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On Oct. 7, 1913, Ford manufacturing engineers rigged a rudimentary final assembly line at the Highland Park Assembly plant. It was a crude system along an open space at the plant, complete with a winch and a rope stretched across the floor. On that day, 140 assemblers were stationed along a 150-foot line and they installed parts on the chassis as it was dragged across the floor by the winch. Photo credit: FORD